The “Zen Patent”: Creative sues Apple over media player interface

Creative files a lawsuit against Apple seeking an injunction and increased …

Digital music and video player manufacturer Creative has filed a lawsuit today against Apple in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, seeking an injunction and increased damages for Apple Computer Inc.'s "willful infringement" of Creative's self-termed Zen Patent. In addition, Creative has filed a complaint with the US International Trade Commission seeking to bar Apple from marketing, importing, and selling the iPod and iPod nano in the US.

Nine months ago, Creative was awarded a patent for an interface for a digital music player. Patent 6,928,433, referred to as the "Zen Patent" by Creative, rather broadly describes its innovation:

A method of selecting at least one track from a plurality of tracks stored in a computer-readable medium of a portable media player configured to present sequentially a first, second, and third display screen on the display of the media player, the plurality of tracks accessed according to a hierarchy, the hierarchy having a plurality of categories, subcategories, and items respectively in a first, second, and third level of the hierarchy

Sound familiar? If you own an iPod, it should. Creative lost no time in pointing out the similarities with Apple's own well-known digital music player interface. In an interview with the BBC last December, Creative Technology CEO Sim Wong Hoo put Apple on notice:

We will pursue all manufacturers that use the same navigation system. This is something we will pursue aggressively. Hopefully this will be friendly, but people have to respect intellectual property.

With Apple holding around 80 percent of the portable digital music player market and Creative's stock price at an all-time low, Creative may be turning to the unfortunate market model of trying to litigate its way into profitability. Apple will continue to contest the patent; however Creative's patent filing in January 2001 came long before Apple's 2002 submission (which was denied).

One clue to how this case will play out may come from the long-running, high-profile battle between Research In Motion and patent-holding company NTP. In order to avoid the possible enforcement of an injunction barring RIM from selling BlackBerry products and operating its wireless e-mail network, RIM settled the infringement case for US$612.5 million.

Given today's Supreme Court ruling in the eBay patent infringement case, it may prove difficult for Creative to get an injunction against Apple right off the bat. With iPod and other "Music Related Products and Services" making up nearly half of Apple's revenue last quarter, Apple certainly won't go down without a long, bitter fight. More likely, Creative will push for a rather large sum in damages and a hefty licensing fee to bring in continuing revenues for the floundering music player manufacturer. Either way, Apple has as much, if not more at stake than in its recent battle with Apple Corps Ltd. and will be spending a lot of time and money in the courtroom defending its digital music empire.